


After the Fall

by DorkWingsRise



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: AU, Adrien walks away, Aged Up, Gen, Ladybug tries to hold on, hawkmoth is defeated
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:20:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28073856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DorkWingsRise/pseuds/DorkWingsRise
Summary: Hawkmoth has fallen, so why does it feel like the world has started to crumble?
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	After the Fall

The secret room has grown silent.In the end, Mayura was too sick to fight; ultimately, Hawkmoth fell not in the face of your speed, power, and wit, but in the face of a heartbroken son telling him that, “Father, it is time for you to stop.”The sirens came and went.One ambulance rushed Nathalie to the ICU.You had explained to the police about the damaged miraculous, about how it ravaged its holder with each use.The other ambulance carted the distraut Gabriel away for observation.He was a shattered man. It wasn’t clear if that was from grief or from forcing a god against its will.Perhaps, in the end, it was all the same thing.

You walk across the room and look at the magically preserved body of Emilie Agreste.She was so beautiful.But you don’t need Tikki to tell you that the preserving magic is illusory.It is one thing — one nearly impossible thing — for Tikki to unwind the effects of an Akuma’s magic, but this?No collection of miraculouses would bring back Emilie.You wonder if that was the real battle Gabriel lost today as he watched Chat Noir drop his transformation.If at that moment, he could no longer deny the truth.

It is a short elevator ride to the main floor.You climb the stairs to Adrien’s room and find him sitting on his bed, cheeks shiny with tears.

“You know I’m here for you, Adrien.We all are.Anything you need, just ask, OK?”You sit next to him and hug him to you.

“My lady, I don’t think I can do this anymore.”

“You don’t have to do anything.Honest.”

“It’s just that all of this seems so pointless.The last four years have been so hard, but it was OK because I felt like I had a purpose.I felt free.But all the power of the miraculouses just went to clean up a mess that the miraculouses caused in the first place.And along the way, I lost my mother.I may lose my father.Nathalie is like family, and I may lose her.I know that you need me to destroy those two miraculouses, but I just can’t.”

You kiss the top of his head.You tell him that he doesn’t need to do a thing.You promise yourself that you will do everything you can to support him, to keep grief from fracturing his sweet heart.

“I think I need some time alone, my lady.I don’t think I’m going to ever put this ring back on again.I don’t think I can.I know that you are The Master, but do you mind if I give this to someone I trust to not be awful?”

You should say no, but you know Adrien, and you trust his heart even when it is broken.“I don’t mind.What are you going to do after?”

He rubs tears from his eyes with his shirtsleeve.“I’ll be spending as much time with Father andNathalie as I can.And I guess I’ll be trying to keep the company together so that Father has something to come back to when he is well again.”

You nod.Always the good son.Loving.Loyal.You kiss his cheek.“I love you.You know that, right?”

He nods.“I know, Marinette.”

“Wait, you knew?!”

He snorts.“Nobody loves their friends like you do.It was just obvious after a while.”

You hug him.“If you need me, call, or just show up.If I’m not home, my mother will feed you until I get back.Have you talked to Kagami?”

He nods.“She should be here any minute.”

“OK.You were amazing today, Adrien.I guess, bug out.”

You handspring out his window before he can notice that you are crying.Your first love, comfortably receding, almost out of sight, still tugs at your heart.Your defining battle ends with no sense of triumph or accomplishment.Your determined focus evaporates as the job is done, leaving you to wonder what is next.Leaving you to wonder who you even are anymore.

There is no reason to drop your transformation, so you cycle through your old patrols — rooftop to tower, billboard to bridge.Paris is abuzz with the news, struggling to reconcile pent up anger with the newly uncovered tragedy. _Marco, come on!Tell me, if it was your wife, wouldn’t you do anything you could to save her life?_ You move on, high above the ground, the rush of air as you swing between buildings not enough to scour the day away.Your path feels random, but ineluctably you swing closer and closer to The Eiffel Tower until you find yourself sitting at its summit as you have so many times over the years.The sun has set, but the city is still shedding the day’s heat.Paris becomes a watercolor beneath you.

You sit for hours.You sit forever.You sense more than see the black-clad figure land to sit next to you. Black leather braided in with the long blonde hair.The blackened iron collar and its blackened iron ring.Black lip tar on perfectly curved lips.Everything about this Chat is blacker and sleeker.Everything about this chat is leaner.More feminine.More dangerous. But she is also undeniably warm next to you and somehow smells less of leather and more of a sharp, peppery mint.You understand all of this in an instant, an hour, a decade as your eyes stare unfocused.You sit in the heart of your world, but you couldn’t be further away.

Until an electric shock travels from your hands to the core of your soul as soft, warm fingers interlace with your own.


End file.
